Recount required for Volusia school tax vote

Friday

Nov 9, 2012 at 5:20 PM

There will be a recount for the Volusia County school tax referendum, the Volusia County canvassing board determined Friday afternoon.

DEREK CATRONSTAFF WRITER

There will be a recount for the Volusia County school tax referendum, the Volusia County canvassing board determined Friday afternoon.But supporters of the tax shouldn't get their hopes up. Supervisor of Elections Ann McFall said it was extremely unlikely the recount would change the outcome. After adding in 398 ballots that the three-member board accepted Friday, the final margin in the race was equal to 0.44 percent. Under state law, any race that's decided by less than 0.5 percent requires a recount, in which ballots are run through the voting machines for a second time.Voters rejected the measure by a 909-vote margin, among nearly 207,000 votes cast.The three-member canvassing board decided to hold the recount Monday in the Elections Office at 125 W. New York Ave., in DeLand.``We still don't know if there's (going to be a statewide) presidential recount,'' McFall said. Elections officials won't know for sure until all the unofficial results are submitted to the state Saturday. Although it's unlikely there will be a presidential recount, McFall said it would be simpler to do both at the same time.She had another reason for holding off until Monday for the school recount. The question appeared on page 3 of the ballot, and all those pages will have to be pulled from the ballots to be run through the machines for a second time.``Getting ready for it is going to be as laborious as doing it,'' McFall told fellow board members Joyce Cusack, a County Councilwoman, and County Judge David Foxman.McFall said the recount probably will take two days.